The Bite of Revenge

Chapter 12

When we finally arrived at the cabin in Yosemite National Park, I breathed a sigh of relief, but for some reason, I couldn't fully relax because it still felt like we were being watched. I sniffed the air and I caught the faint smell of death on the light breeze. "Are we still being followed?" Peter asked quietly as we unloaded the SUV.

"Yes," I whispered, "but it feels more like we're being watched, but at a distance."

"Have you figured out who or what it is?"

"I have my suspensions, but I don't want to say anything and cause unnecessary panic." Peter nods in understanding as Alison leads the way into the cabin, which consists of a simple and homey interior, a living room as soon as you walk in, a state-of-the-art kitchen beyond that, and a wall length window looking out towards the forest.

"Now this is more like it," Taylor said as we all took in the view, "you have good taste Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery."

"Alison actually did the interior decorating," Mr. Montgomery said, "Natalie helped a little bit, but Alison did most of the work." After that, Alison showed us to our rooms, which were on the second floor.

"Everyone gets their own room," Alison said as she indicated the four guest rooms, "even though some of us might object, my mom insists that unless you're married, engaged, or mated, you aren't permitted to go into each others rooms after dark." She then narrowed her eyes at Peter, who just smirked cockily at her.

"Do honestly think that's going to stop me?" he asked, "really, Alison? you wound me."

"Each bedroom has their own full bathroom," Alison said, ignoring Peter, "so when you've gotten yourselves settled, we'll all meet downstairs for lunch and then, if you're all up to it, we can go on a hike." We all nodded in agreement and when I entered my room, which consisted of a ween sized bed, a dresser, nightstand with a lamp, a desk, a walk in closet, and the full bathroom that Alison mentioned earlier.

"Nice digs," I mutter as I started to unpack. When I was finished, I headed into the bathroom, which consisted of a Jacuzzi tub, a shower, a toilet and a one sink vanity counter, to wash my face and freshen up. After that, I headed out the door, but before I could head downstairs, an arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me toward a very hard, muscular body.

"I managed to get the room right next door to yours," Peter whispered, his lips lightly brushing the shell of my ear, "maybe later tonight we can sneak away, I want to be able to have some alone time with you."

"Are you trying to get us both in trouble?" I asked as Peter's lips continued to trail light kisses down my neck.

"Of course not, I just want to take advantage of this little vacation to spend time with you without any interruptions."

"Jesus, get a room you two," said a voice from behind us. We both turned to find Taylor with a mischievous grin on her face. "Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time for some alone time later, but right now we need to meet Alison in the living room."

"What about Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery?" I asked as we headed downstairs, "won't they be honing us?"

"Unfortunately Mr. Montgomery had to head back to The Bone Yard," Taylor answered with a sigh, "apparently Derek isn't all to happy of being left behind, so he decided to throw one of his temper tantrums, which apparently involves breaking anything that he can get his hands on and Natalie decided to head back with him to see if she could lend a hand in getting him under control."

"Good luck with that," Peter said, by now we had reached the living room where Alison was already waiting. "Once Derek gets into one of his rampages, it's almost impossible to get him under control."

"Well, they better think of something," Alison said, crossing her arms, "because any more mishaps from your nephew is going to cost him his job."

"Believe me, I'm well aware of that," Peter said, running his hand through his hair in exasperation. "I'm just glad we got out of there before s**t hit the fan. Derek tends to be unpredictable when he's in one of his bad moods. Once we had all agreed that a hike would do us good, Alison led the way out the front door and towards a small hiking trail that was located slightly to the left of the house and, once again, I caught a whiff of the same bad smell as before, only this time it was slightly closer than before.

"Somebody better explain to me what the hell smells so bad," Taylor said as we started walking, "because if that smell comes any closer, I'm going to throw chunks, and it's not going to be pretty." Peter glanced at me, as if telling me that I should say something. I sighed and nodded. I figured that now was probably as good a time as any to tell them my suspicions.

"I didn't want to say anything before, but I think I have an idea of what the bad smell might be," I say, by now we had reached a small clearing, but before I could say anything, a low howl could be heard not too far off and my skin immediately started to crawl and not in a good way.

"Get behind that boulder!" I yelled, shoving Peter away from me, "don't ask questions, just do it!" Seeing the look in my eyes, my friends quickly did as I asked as I turned just in time to see two huge wolves lunge at me. Without thinking, I grabbed them both by the necks and threw them away from me only to have two more lunge at me and before I could stop them them, they both sink their teeth into both my upper legs and I let a growl of pain as the two wolves disappeared.

"Anna!" Peter shouted as he tried to fight off Alison and Taylor to get to me, but Taylor managed to get him a headlock just as more wolves lunged at me and each time I managed to fight off two wolves, two more manged to sink their teeth into me and each time this happened the pain became more excruciating. This went on for what felt like hours, but only lasted for five minutes and by the time the last two wolves disappeared after biting me, I was in so much pain that I eventually collapsed where I stood. My friends were shouting at me, but I couldn't hear what they were saying as everything faded in and out of focus and at some point, I eventually passed out from the pain.